Chicago Sun-Times
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Sun-Times Media Group |
| Publisher | John D. Cruickshank |
| Editor | Michael Cooke |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Headquarters | 350 N. Orleans Chicago, IL 60654  United States |
| Circulation | 368,062 Daily 324,074 Sunday[1] |
| Website | suntimes.com |
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago. Although its circulation (particularly home-delivery) and advertising revenue are smaller than those of the rival Chicago Tribune, the Sun-Times makes more money on the newsstand. The Sun-Times is an urban tabloid, designed with hard-to-ignore front pages in an easily-carried format ideal for commuters on the 'L', Chicago's rapid transit.
History
The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city. It began life in 1844 as the Chicago Evening Journal[2] (which was the first newspaper to publish the rumor, now believed false, that a cow owned by Catherine O'Leary was responsible for the Chicago fire).[3] The Evening Journal, whose West Side building at 17-19 S. Canal was undamaged, gave the Chicago Tribune a temporary home until it could rebuild.[4] In 1929, the newspaper was relaunched as the Chicago Daily Illustrated Times.[2]
The modern paper grew out of the 1948 merger of the Chicago Sun, founded in 1941 by Marshall Field III, and the Chicago Daily Times. Before Murdoch, the newspaper was for a time owned by Field Enterprises, controlled by the Marshall Field family. During the Field period, the newspaper had a populist, progressive character that leaned Democratic but was independent of the city's Democratic establishment. Although the graphic style was "urban tabloid", the paper was well-regarded for journalistic quality and did not rely on sensational front-page stories. It typically ran articles from the Washington Post/Los Angeles Times wire service.
In 1984 Field sold the paper to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, and the paper's style changed abruptly toward that of its suitemate New York Post. Its front pages tended more toward the sensational, and its political stance shifted toward Republican. This was in the same era that the traditional Republican bulwark, the Chicago Tribune, was softening its positions, ending the city's clear division between the two newspapers' politics. This shift was made all but official when long-time Sun-Times columnist Mike Royko defected to the Tribune.
After Murdoch, the Sun-Times was acquired by Hollinger International, controlled, indirectly, by controversial Canadian born businessman Conrad Black. After Black and his associate David Radler were indicted for skimming money from Hollinger International, through retaining noncompete payments from the sale of Hollinger newspapers, they were removed from the board, and Hollinger International was renamed as the Sun-Times Media Group.
In 1978, the newspaper conducted the controversial Mirage Tavern investigation, in which undercover reporters operated a bar and caught city officials taking bribes on camera. In 2005 Editor & Publisher named the Sun-Times as one of the "10 That Do It Right.".
In 2002, with Kuczmarski & Associates, the Chicago Sun-Times co-founded the Chicago Innovation Awards.
In January 2004, after a six-month investigation, the paper broke the story of the Hired Truck Program scandal, led by Steve Warmbir.
To enable the construction of the Trump Tower, the newspaper moved the Apparel Center expansion of the Merchandise Mart.
Staff
The Sun-Times's best-known writers are the prominent Washington veteran Robert Novak and the influential film critic Roger Ebert. The newspaper gave a start in journalism to now disgraced Bob Greene. Legendary Chicago columnist Mike Royko, previously of the defunct Chicago Daily News, came to the paper in 1978 but left for the Tribune in 1984 when the Sun-Times was purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Irv Kupcinet's daily column was a fixture from 1943 until his death in 2003. Current Sun-Times writers of note include Richard Roeper, Mary Mitchell, Zay N. Smith, Jay Mariotti, Neil Steinberg, Rick Telander, and Jim DeRogatis.
Lynn Sweet is the Washington Bureau Chief.
The Sun-Times in popular culture
- The movie Continental Divide (1981) featured a Sun-Times columnist as a leading character.
- In the television series Early Edition, the main character mysteriously receives a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times that will be published tomorrow, making him aware of the immediate future.
- On the television series My Boys, the main character P.J. Franklin is the Sun-Times' beat reporter for the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
Trivia
According to the 2005 World Almanac, the Chicago Sun-Times is the 13th most widely distributed newspaper in the United States.
Controversy
 | The relevance of particular information in (or previously in) this article or section is disputed. |
After columnist Michael Sneed erroneously identified the shooter in the April 16 2007 Virginia Tech massacre as an unnamed Chinese national, the People's Republic of China criticized U.S. media for disseminating what it called "irresponsible reports". The student, Wayne Chiang (Jiang Wei'en in People's Daily article), was named in other media; his website was flooded and he received death threats. The Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Virginia Tech planned a letter of protest to the Sun-Times. The actual perpetrator, Cho Seung-hui, was a Korean-American immigrant.[5]
Gallery
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Current Chicago Sun-Times headquarters, located in the Chicago Apparel Center, 350 N. Orleans St., owned by the Merchandise Mart. -
Former Chicago Sun-Times headquarters, demolished in 2004 to make way for the Trump Tower -
The Chicago Sun-Times before its most recent redesign.
References
- ^ "2006 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation" (PDF). BurrellesLuce. 2006-03-31. Retrieved 2007-03-07.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b "Chicago Sun-Times". Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
- ^ Richard F. Bales. "Did the Cow Do It? A New Look at the Cause of the Great Chicago Fire". Retrieved 2007-03-01.
- ^ "Great Chicago Fire of 1871". About.com. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
- ^ "US reports on 'Chinese killer' criticized". People's Daily Online. April 18 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
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